Tim and Lesley Year of Million Compromises/TONS pics- 8/5 help me pg. 164!!!

[ktturner]

Have a GREAT time, I'll post tonight so check in from your MIL's.
Lesley

OK, so I'm here, and going to sleep! I've been up since 2:00 AM and it's been a crazy day (I updated my pre-trippie with our events today!)

Anyway, I'll be looking for your update tomorrow! I've got to know if you made it to wishes!!!! I'm addicted!

Also, Tim, great song and so romantic! Lesley, you're truly blessed!

 

[timandlesley]

Hello everyone. First of all, thanks for all of the votes and DVC advice, you definitely have us thinking. . . . What to do. . . what to do. .. . I just love all of the advice, thanks for taking the time. You've given us a LOT to consider.
Also, thanks for all of the Anniversary wishes, I am truly blessed, you got that right.
I am sorry no update tonight. Luke ended up having his cousin over to spend the night tonight, it's been a long day/night and I have TONS of University of Phoenix stuff to get done tonight and it's already 10:30.
Kids have Vacation Bible School the next two nights so I will be kid free from 5-9 tomorrow so I PROMISE an installment tomorrow night, cross my heart
Also, we leave to go out of town for a week on Sunday so I will get the entire TR done before we leave! So . . .stay tuned
Lesley

 

[purplepeg]

Hey Lesley (and Tim),
Loving your trip report but sad that all good things must come to an end! I love all the pictures you include, it really makes me feel like I was there Belated Anniversary wishes As for where to stay for your anniversary next year, I know you have done deluxe or moderate, but how about giving a value resort a try. As the kids get older you really are only in the room to sleep. They have great pool areas and Icons and the beds are the same size as a moderate(double). They have one sink outside the BR. We have never stayed anywhere but value because we just can't justify spending money on something we are only sleeping in.: The other thing you could do is get two rooms at a value and then you and Tim could have a little "private time" Of course when you check in you have to say one adult will be in each room of your requested connecting rooms. Something to think about. Maybe then you could stay for longer and splurge in another area you wouldn't normally splurge.

 

[scrapperjill]

Just wanted to say... I hope you two had a great Anniversary And that I can't wait to see what's next.

I'm going to have to go back and take another look at that Disney Packing list. We're about to that stage where we need to start getting things in order...heck we're ONLY two months out. lol... Anyways the list looks like a good one...so I'm thinking I need to cut and paste it someplace.

Thanks for all your info and tips.

 

[2angelsinheaven]

Happy Belated Anniversary Guys! Congrats to you both.

I vote that you just move to Florida, can we throw that one in the mix...lol. Then you can run a daily WDW blog. =o)

Can't wait to hear about the rest of the trip.

 

[daisy_77]

I know this is late but,

Happy Anniversary!!! ​

 

[Lil'DisneyMom]

Happy Belated Anniversary!!!

My vote is to stay at a cheaper resort for longer!! We like to stay as long as possible, and if that means we have to do a value resort so be it!!!

 

[Susiev25]

Love your TR! I have been checking in everyday to see if you've updated it! We're getting ready to take our annual 2 week summer vacation for my middle dd's birthday and this is totally what I need to help with the excitment!
Only 2 1/2 weeks until our vacation starts! I only hope to be as lucky as you were with all of your "wishes"!

 

[katiesmomluvsdizne]

First things first-Happy Belated Anniersary.
Tim-BRAVO another great song

As far as advice about where to stay. We too have thought about buying DVC. We have gone to the appts. 3xs!!!! All three times my DH is the one that has booked the appt and he says we are doing it, but then when we get there and run the numbers he chickens out. I think it is the fear of my income being reduced right now so I can go to school and the extra expense of going to school (love my Miami U, but man how I hate that tuition).

IMO if you are not going to go with DVC, I suggest staying at a moderate so you can spend more days in the world. I am always for more days and more spending money by staying in a less exp room.

If you are interested I do have the DVC info from our last trip (9/06) if you want I can put it in the mail or meet you some where. Maybe that will help with your decision. I am sure they would mail you something for DVC but I don't know how detailed it is.

 

[dddisrunner]

Hey guys a little late but HAPPY BELATED ANNIVERSARY! I loved the pictures of POFQ! I just wanted to say that I, like you am struggling right now about where to stay for our upcoming 2008 trip. Our trip was @ POP for 7 days in 2007 and to be honest it was exhausting(great but exhausting). If you remember from my TR ,I planned really well and used TGM but trying to fit everything into just 7 days is sooo hard to do. That being said I was glad we didn't pay the extra for a mod. , because we were hardly ever in our room. I personally feel that if you can only afford to go once a year (like us) then a mod is just right. I would rather go longer and enjoy the magic for those extra few days then to stay deluxe and feel guilty about trying to cram alot into 7-8 days and enjoy the resort at the same time. It just seems too stressful. Just my 2 cents!

I hope you enjoy some time to yourself over the next 2 nights! Tell Tim great job on the song!

 

[fterie4u]

I also would suggest a moderate resort. I would rather have more days in Disney than a fancier hotel and less days! Plus, if you have less days staying at a Deluxe than you will have to cram in everything you want to do and you won't even have as much time to enjoy the resort anyway.
You said you had one of the best trips this year and you stayed at a moderate. So again, I would suggest a moderate hotel with a longer stay.

I am looking forward to the rest of your TR!!!

 

[kribit]

I was away for a couple of days and so glad to see you aren't done yet. More to look forward to!!

 

[timandlesley]

Day 9::

So the wake up call from my now dear friend Stitch rings at 7:15, man oh man was I tired!!!! I jumped out of bed anyway and got ready, woke up the kids and Tim and we ate breakfast in the room (those doughnuts and juice I had purchased the night before with our final snack credits). Today was the day of our Mickey’s Magical Milestones Tour, we were excited about it. We needed to be at the park by 8:30 to check into the tour by 8:45 so we got to the bus stop at 8:00. We made it to the tour at 8:45, and got our buttons:

The check in area was nice and they had freezing cold bottled water and coffee for the taking, so I grabbed a few Dasani’s to stick into the stroller, heck why not!!!!
We then explored Main Street since we had it to ourselves, how could we resist!!!

We explored the empty shops and headed back to see if our tour guide was there yet. As we waited there was a CM there polishing the chrome on the railings, I just love Disney, those babies SHONE as he was done, gotta love that.
I noticed the Dream Team and their bags heading to the entrance at the rope drop, who knows what they were surprising people with this day.
Our tour guide came out, and she was Mrs. NOOOO personality. She had us each share our favorite Mickey moment then we were on our way. She took us out front to give us some history on the park, I snapped a shot of the train station as she mentioned something I’ve never noticed before:

See where it says “population 600,000,000” on the bottom left, she said that is approximately how many people have walked through the gates since opening, o.k. interesting. Then we headed inside the gates for more talk, this was about 30 minutes of talking, the kids were doing good so far. We stopped in front of Tony’s Town Square where she talked about everything I already knew about Walt Disney, him getting fired, Universal treating him like crap and stealing his team (always knew why I don’t go to Universal ; ) then the kids spot characters all over the place and want to do that (who can blame them), luckily then we headed inside Exposition Hall to more Disney trivia. Here is Lauren sitting down watching the Mickey movies as the tour guide continues to talk in a monotone tone about Mickey facts (now, mind you, I knew that is what the tour would have, but I would have liked a bit more personality and a good voice from the tour guide, you couldn’t hear this lady, she spoke so softly, and a lot of the facts I already knew, I learned maybe 4 new things on this tour.)

Then we got on the train and headed to Toontown. This was a cool part of the tour. She told us how Walt first drew Mickey on a train, then gave each of us a paper and a pen with a Mickey model on it and told us to draw our Mickey on the train (mind you Tim had to ask her to repeat herself about 10+ times on the train because you just couldn’t hear a word she was saying). Anyway, here we are trying to draw Mickey, kids loved this part.

Luke took it VERY seriously!

Here is mine (I am NOT an artist!!! and where the heck is his tail??) GEEZ, I'm embarassed

We then headed into Mickey’s house.

The kids looked all around and she talked about each room in detail for about 5 minutes:

As we were looking around she was talking to us about Hidden Mickey’s etc. when this guy surprised us (THIS WAS THE COOLEST PART OF THE TOUR BY FAR!!!)

The kids were absolutely thrilled and I was too of course. It was hard on the kids for the past hour passing everyone riding rides and seeing characters and they were stuck listening to this lady go on and on (they didn’t understand it, but this helped TREMENDOUSLY!!!) We were the first to see Mickey in Toontown

Then we headed to Minnie’s house, I snapped a photo of our tourguide (again, we were not happy with her at all, might have been an off day for her, but it just wasn’t worth the money spent):

The kids enjoyed exploring Minnie’s house. She then stopped us and talked about Mickey and Minnie’s relationship for awhile, Tim was HATING the tour at this point, and wandered off:

I so wanted just to ditch out but it was just us and another couple, we were stuck.
We then headed to Fantasyland, talk about torture for the kids seeing all the rides there, she talked about soveniers, etc. and Mickey merchandising in front of the Sir Mickey’s for about a half an hour, here are my poor kids bored to tears:

Then we head toward Philarmagic. On our way there she was totally bashing the latest kid attractions at Disney, saying how bad they were, Tim spoke up and said “do you have kids?” and she said “no” and he said “you will change your mind when you have kids”. Tim was so sick of her at this point. Then we walked into Philarmagic and she just went in with the regular crowd, but then her boyfriend came up who worked there and told her to come in the other exit (which I read you were supposed to do anyway with this tour) and we went in that way. We sat towards the back and the kids loved the show, but really not worth tour money just to see this show in the back. She briefly talked about a few hidden Mickey’s in the show (which for the life of me I couldn’t locate) and then we headed toward the frontier land area behind the castle. The Mickey show was going on in the castle and the kids wanted to watch (so did I- oh well). At this point we had endured 2 ½ hours of the tour and were SOOOO ready to break off and get some rides in, I was feeling we had wasted our morning at MK (I know, we did see Mickey at Toontown which was cool, but for the price this tour costs, not worth it!). She takes us to this area behind the castle and some lady comes up with a bag, hands it to her and she gives us our “ears”. I had read in others reviews of the tour that Donald Duck gave these out so I was a bit disappointed, and they spelled my name wrong on my ears, BUMMER, oh well. We got our ears and RAN out of there to get some rides in.
The lines were long because it was now approaching 11:00 and it was H”OT!!! We grabbed FP’s for Splash Mtn. and split up. The boys wanted to do Pirates and Lauren and I wanted to do the Jungle Cruise. We waited, AND waited, AND waited for Jungle Cruise (about 30 minutes, and with a cranky, hungry, bored Lauren, that wasn’t a fun line) Here is a happy Lauren on the cruise:

It is such a great ride, our skipper was hilarious!!! She did all the standard corny jokes that I love and then one lady gave her a face after one of the jokes and she said “well, that just wasn’t a nice face at all” and made her sing a song to the boat to apologize to her, it was hysterical. Lauren had a GREAT time too, she is the age where she thinks the animals were real, how cute and cool! We met up with Tim and Luke after that and by this time we were STARVING. We headed over to get taco’s. They don’t look appetizing at all but they really are good:

Lauren loved em’:

We were stupid and realized AFTER we had eaten them that there is a huge fixin’s bar for the taco’s inside (everything you could ever want on a taco- oh well) we were starving and they were gone quick. Here is Luke with his ears from the tour:

 

[timandlesley]

After lunch our time had come for Splash Mtn. so we headed over to Splash Mtn. FP’s in hand. Glad we had them too because the stand by line was 120 minutes!!!! Have I mentioned I LOVE THIS RIDE (I know, about a million times, but who’s counting). I LOVE THIS RIDE!!!!
Here is Lauren in line:

And Luke in line (almost our turn!)

Here is a pic Tim took of the hill:

Now, I usually don’t get wet on this ride, but WARNING when you are down below the people who are coming down the hill that is when you get the most wet. As a boat soared down the hill Lauren and I got SOAKED!!!

Here is a view of the castle from the top:

Like Heaven on earth isn’t it!?!
Here is the part of the ride that totally freaks Lauren out, she hates the fox:

Tim to go down the BIG hill!

I snapped a pic of the sign before we got off, I have this as the ringback tone on my cell phone, I just love this saying, guess that’s why I love the ride so much, the songs are my favorite!

Then we were headed to the exit, as we headed out we saw a photographer snapping shots, so we had him take one of us:

Then we stopped and saw the Family Fun parade, this is new this year. I didn’t realize until after the fact that they choose people in front of the castle area (in the circle part that encircles the statue) for the parade. If you want to be in it, go to the sign down there to be selected, it was a cute parade:

As we were standing there, Tim had decided he wanted to tell the people about the tour. Now, we are NOT complainers, rarely complain about anything, but we just weren’t thrilled with our tour experience. We weren’t expecting anything in return, but thought they should be aware of what happened. Tim went in while the kids and I watched the parade. He said he was very nice but told them about the tour guide, her talking about her boyfriend (which she did a lot on the tour), slamming the kids rides, not speaking loud enough for us to hear her, etc. They were obviously not thrilled about this and refunded our money for the tour, I couldn’t believe it. Then they ALSO gave us two vouchers to go to the head of the line for any attraction at MK that day. Well, that’s Disney for you, they sure do want you happy, guess that’s why we’re so hooked on this place, SMART DISNEY.
So. . ..instead of heading for the exit, we now wanted to take advantage of these passes, so back to the park we go (boy were we pooped!!!)
We were headed to Buzz Lightyear and on the way there saw the standby line for Stitch was only 10 minutes – Lauren and I hadn’t done this before. I was worried about Lauren so I told Tim to explain it to her since he and Luke had ridden it. He is such a good daddy. He picked her up, held her and said “Lauren, is Stitch scary or silly?” Lauren said “silly daddy!” and he said “yup, that’s right, and in this show it’s gonna get a little dark, and that silly Stitch is going to come and lick you, and jump on you, and all kinds of silly stuff” she was concerned that we wouldn’t be right there by her, I told her I’d be right there holding her hand the whole time, with that, she was FINE and wanted to go in. As we headed through the turnstiles the CM grabbed Luke to the side and Luke got a Dream!!! He got to go to the front of the line and lead everyone into the ride with this flag:

They gave him a certificate too, he was on cloud nine!
Here he is leading us in:

The ride was cute, glad the wait was only 10 minutes, but it’s Stitch, it’s cute, that burp is N-A-S-T-Y!!! ewwwww : )
We then used our first voucher to get into Buzz:

It was guys against girls for points, we take this seriously folks : )

GIRL POWER!!!!

A happy Luke on one of his favorite rides:

O.K., so the boys won, Tim creams me everytime on this ride, oh well, we had a great time!
We saw Stitch outside of the ride, the kids were so excited. If you’ve never had the experience of meeting Stitch, you need to, he was hilarious with the kids!

We then decided we were going to use the last voucher on Space Mtn, Tim wanted to ride it again and Luke decided to be brave and do it with him. We decided Lauren and I would hit the Tomorrowland Transit Authority again and then we’d meet for ice cream (or so I thought that’s what we decided). So we split up, Lauren and I hit the TTA:

When we got off we headed to the ice cream place, sat down and enjoyed our ice cream .I got my cell out to call Tim and couldn’t get a signal. Turned it off, back on again, took the battery out, put it back in again, NO SIGNAL. What was going on? (turns out Splash Mtn. had soaked my phone – stupid me and it was no longer working, we found that out when we got home). Anyway, by the time I realized my phone wasn’t working and Tim and Luke hadn’t shown up at the ice cream place I didn’t know what to do so I started looking everywhere for them. I then spotted a very frustrated and hot looking Tim and he was too far away for me to yell so I sent Lauren sprinting after him. The boys then got ice cream (guess he didn’t hear me say that’s where we were meeting, he thought we were meeting them in the arcade and then all getting ice cream together, one of those typical miscommunications that occur in Disney for some reason : ) We then headed to the exit, it was 3:45 at this point and we were hot and tired!!!

 

[timandlesley]

We got back to the room and we took a family nap. This is one of those naps that you close the blinds and the room gets totally dark and you forget what day or time it was. We napped from 4-7:15, UNBELIEVABLE!
Tim woke up singing “How do ya do? Mighty Fine to meet ya, how bout’ you. . .” from Splash Mtn, said it was stuck in his head and everything he thought was now sung to that tune. He started singing “What am I gonna have, how bout’ a hamburger dad a da” we had a good laugh, got ourselves together and headed to the foodcourt for dinner.

As we were headed into the foodcourt, still in kinda a sleepy daze we heard “TIM!” , we ignored it, thinking it was someone else, then “Tim, please stop, my wife has been driving me CRAZY all week talking about you guys!” We had another Dis stalker, HALARIOUS!!! Gotta love it! Her name was Diana (hi Diana!!!) and her husband was hilarious saying she had said all week “wonder what Tim and Lesley are up to, etc”. She asked about the trip so far, what tim’s F-day gift was, she was excited she got the “scoop” first.
We then headed in, MAN we should have eaten dinner here before, YUMMY!

That pot roast meal was out of this world! I took this opportunity to take a few food court pics:

Lauren sat at the little table they had in the corner of the food court drawing and playing with blocks:

Then of course she made some friends doing so:

Luke found a CM to trade pins with, he was proud of his trade:

We just sat around lounging in the food court for about an hour, we were in no hurry, and the kids were having fun playing with their new friends at the drawing table. Tim made a call to his mom, I made one to a friend back home.
Then we headed to the lobby to settle our bill since we were leaving tomorrow (BOO HOO!!!) As we did that the kids enjoyed the t.v. area in the lobby:

There was 60 dollars worth of false internet charges on there (they charged us 7 times for one day!) so if you get internet, really read the bill carefully, so we had those taken off no problem. We then enjoyed the music in the lobby in front of Scats Lounge (man this guy is GOOD!!!)

We then headed to the arcade to have fun together:

We enjoyed the laid back night, I know everyone, this was our final night, I could have done WISHES, but I have to save something for next visit. After our Illuminations bus nightmare I just wanted to stay, enjoy my family in the resort, and CHILL!!!
We then went to the gift shop, I bought a few token items for my parents who were watching our dog (my baby) His name is Loomis, here is a pic of him:

Then I picked out our photo album for this year and purchased it, we let the kids each pick out a candy item, then we headed back to the room (it was around 11:00 p.m. at this point)
As we passed the pool area, it was practically deserted and the kids were BEGGING t get in, so being the awesome parents we are : ) we let them strip down and get in:

We saw this cute little guy hop by the pool as we sat there enjoying the wonderful Disney air:

etc).
I got the kids changed into dry clothes and then I had to pack, HOW DEPRESSING!!! I did not want to pack (in a 2 year old throwing a temper tantrum sort of a way). But, alas, I did pack, got all the suitcases ready so we could call Bell services in the morning and got our carry on’s ready for the plane and the next day because the plan was to be at Epcot close to opening and stay there until around 3:30 to get back to the hotel to catch our Magical Express train. I couldn’t believe it was time to leave tomorrow. NO!!! I wanted to stay forever. Well, I was exhausted after packing, I was done and in bed by 12:30 a.m.

Stay tuned for our FINAL DAY IN THE WORLD, we have a yummy lunch at Alfredo’s, explore Innoventions for the first time, silly pictures around the world showcase Tim style and then final farewells!!!

 

[pixe*dst]

Great update. Thanks for the info. on the tour too. We're planning on the Family Magic tour in January. I've heard mixed reviews, but we want to try something different.

Back to the Anniversary song--we rented DVC points in January, stayed in a 1 bdrm & LOVED it. When we return this Jan. we're doing the same. Our first Deluxe (non DVC) stay will be in September, so I can't compare that. Renting points (or if you invest) I think makes it affordable to have your cake & eat it too--stay deluxe & stay for a longer time.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

What a great update. You have such a talent for writing.

That is very unfortunate that your tour was so bad but at least Disney made it all good by refunding you your money and giving you those ride vouchers!

Sounds like you had a great day after that though.

That is an adorable picture of Luke and Lauren in the pool. It really shows how much they love each other and that you and Tim are doing a great job raising two wonderful kids.

I hate having to pack our bags at the end of a trip as well but at least you know you will be back!

Can't wait to hear about how your last day at Epcot went.

 

[Nicole786]

Awesome TR! I'm a little sad you missed Wishes, but like you said theres always next time. [Not] Looking forward to the end, Looking forward to the next Pre-TR so once again we can take this great journey with you guys begining to end. Also, what a cute dog!

 

[IcePrincess467]

Lesley, enjoying your report as aways....only sad thing is there's only one left.... Also, I am sorry to hear about your time on the Magical Milestone Tour...after hearing your experience I don't know if DH & I will do it!? How much did it cost anyways?

You'll have to start your pre-trip for next year!!! Look foward to reading and seeing how your final day went!

 

[daisy_77]

Great update!
Wow...I am sooo sorry about your Tour experience. At least you all spoke up and told someone.

You are Lauren look soaked on Splash and I bet it felt great in that summer heat!

That pot roast looks sooo yummy! I would love to try POFQ. The Polynesian and WL are also two others I really want to try out.

I am sooo depressed that your TR is almost over! I love reading your report...it really makes me relive all my trips.